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Reporting the story of Christians around the world under pressure for their faith.Fri, 22 Feb 2019 14:59:02 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.3https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/cropped-WWM-favicon-1-32x32.pngWorld Watch Monitorhttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org
3232As Nigeria votes, family and churches urge candidates to remember Christian teen Leah Sharibuhttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/02/as-nigeria-votes-family-and-churches-urge-candidates-to-remember-christian-teen-leah-sharibu/
Thu, 21 Feb 2019 14:11:51 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37428One year since the Christian teenager Leah Sharibu was abducted from her boarding school in north-eastern Nigeria by an Islamist group, a coalition of groups have called on presidential candidates to tell Nigerians how they plan to secure her release. “We are urging the political parties and their candidates that […]

]]>Leah Sharibu was 14 when she was abducted by Boko Haram exactly one year ago. (Photo: Family)

One year since the Christian teenager Leah Sharibu was abducted from her boarding school in north-eastern Nigeria by an Islamist group, a coalition of groups have called on presidential candidates to tell Nigerians how they plan to secure her release.

“We are urging the political parties and their candidates that now that the campaigns have reopened, they should not begin any campaigns without addressing us on the future of Leah,” Mr Emmanuel Ogeb, chairman of the Coalition for Leah, told journalists in Abuja on 19 February.

Nigeria is scheduled to go to the polls 23 February to elect a new president. Originally scheduled for 16 February, voting was postponed for one week.

“Leah has been gone for too long, so tell us how you are going to bring her and the remaining Chibok girls back. The fact that they [the government] were able to bring back the 100 girls that were adopted alongside Leah show that they have the capacity to release Leah,” said Ogeb, as quoted by the Daily Times.

“It is tragic and a political miscalculation for the presidential candidates to dodge talking publicly about their respective commitment to free Leah and others in captivity,” Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam of the Citizens Monitoring Group, told the Daily Post.

‘Keep that promise’

Following a deal between the government and the militants, Boko Haram released 104 girls, with the last five thought to have died in captivity. The group has kept Leah, a Christian, because she refused to renounce her faith.

On the first anniversary of her abduction, family and community members met at her parents’ home in Dapchi.

“We have gathered at Leah’s House in Dapchi today to show our solidarity to the mother and parents of Leah. As it is today, we don’t know the kind of condition that Leah is inside. Whether she is alive, healthy or sick, we don’t know,” Secretary of Association of Parents of Abducted Dapchi Girls, Kachalla Mohammed told newspaper The Nation.

The government should pay Boko Haram whatever they want in order to set Leah free, said the Association’s Chairman, Bashir Manzo.

“The president should expedite actions on the release of Leah. Let the president pay whatever Boko Haram is requesting so that this little girl will be set free,” he said. ‘’They would have done anything within their powers to release this girl if it’s their own child.”

In a government statement in March Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, said he was “committed to the freedom of the only Dapchi schoolgirl still in captivity,” according to the BBC. “The lone Dapchi girl will not be abandoned.”

Her mother Rebecca called again on the president to keep his promises. “The government should keep the promises made by the President and the ministers who visited us in Dapchi in October. They should rescue my daughter,” she told journalists in Abuja last week, speaking through an interpreter.

“Since [October], I have not heard anything from the Federal Government again,” her father Nathan said 19 February in an interview on Nigeria’s TVC, as reported by The Nation.

“The other bodies that have been deeply concerned about the development are only the churches and Muslims that are trying their possible best. The government has been silent on this issue. I am only pleading with government, as I always do, that they should do their possible best to see that my daughter returns safely,” he said.

In October Boko Haram threaten to kill Leah and three other hostages after it killed a midwife who had been serving with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

When her friends were released Leah sent a message to her mother, saying: “My mother you should not be disturbed. I know it is not easy missing me, but I want to assure you that I am fine where I am … I am confident that one day I shall see your face again. If not here, then there at the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In August in a 35-second audio recording surfaced, obtained by Ahmad Salkida for Nigerian newspaper The Cable, in which Leah asks for help for her family and herself.

“I also plead to the members of the public to help my mother, my father, my younger brother and relatives. Kindly help me out of my predicament. I am begging you to treat me with compassion. I am calling on the government, particularly the president, to pity me and get me out of this serious situation. Thank you,” she said.

The religious freedom watchdog Open Doors is running an e-writing campaign to transmit letters of encouragement to Leah’s parents, while the advocacy group Christian Solidary Worldwide marked her one year in captivity with a protest in front of the Nigerian High Commission in London, calling for the release of Leah and of 112 girls who remain missing after they were kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014.

]]>Nigeria elections: Whomever wins, Christians hope for justice and securityhttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/02/nigeria-elections-whomever-wins-christians-hope-for-justice-and-security/
Fri, 15 Feb 2019 18:06:20 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37415As Nigerians are preparing to go to the polls tomorrow to elect a new president, Boko Haram has been stepping up attacks in the northeast of the country, making it difficult if not impossible for people to vote. On Tuesday, 12 February, the Islamist militants attacked Madagali town, Gulak, Magar […]

]]>According to the UN, more than 2 million people have been displaced by the Boko Haram insurgence in northeast Nigeria. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

As Nigerians are preparing to go to the polls tomorrow to elect a new president, Boko Haram has been stepping up attacks in the northeast of the country, making it difficult if not impossible for people to vote.

On Tuesday, 12 February, the Islamist militants attacked Madagali town, Gulak, Magar and Shuwa in Madagali Local Government Area, Adamawa State, where they killed at least 4 residents and destroyed properties.

It was the third attack in nine days, sending residents fleeing for their lives, reports The Nation newspaper. According to reports, the military was able to drive the insurgents back and kill most of them.

“Christians say [Boko Haram] is trying to eliminate them from this area and that they have been forced to flee into the mountains,” a local source told World Watch Monitor. “These events will make it nearly impossible for [them] to vote this weekend.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission last month decided to limit the number of polling stations in the Madagali area to three because of security concerns.

‘Disappointed with this administration’

President Muhammadu Buhari, who is hoping for a second term after tomorrow’s elections, came to power in 2015 with the promise to silence Boko Haram. So far, he has failed to curb the Islamist insurgency, despite claims that the radical Islamic group has been technically defeated.

Boko Haram’s nine-year insurgency has been described by the United Nations as one of the most severe in the world today, with more than 20,000 people killed, more than 4,000 women and girls abducted, and more than 2 million internally displaced people.

Fulani violence

While Boko Haram is creating havoc in northeast of Nigeria, violence attributed to Fulani militants in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is believed to have claimed six times more lives than Boko Haram in recent years. The conflict between farmers and herders has become the country’s gravest security challenge.

In June, the violence reached another peak, as Fulani herdsman armed with sophisticated weapons went on a killing spree in 15 communities, leaving more than 230 dead. The attacks forced more than 11,500 to seek refuge in 13 locations across the state, while an undetermined number of people were injured and hospitalised in various medical centres in Jos.

In one of the last attacks in Plateau State, where raids have been taking place almost on a daily basis, Fulani militants attacked Alese village in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, reports Stefanos Foundation. On Monday, 11 February, armed Fulani men entered the village where they “went on a rampage, shooting sporadically”. When villagers chased them out, they shot and hacked to death a 26-year-old man from Kwaghasalalek village.

In a protest that followed, demonstrators clashed with the convoy of governor Simon Lalong, who was campaigning in the area. Security forces fired on the crowd, killing three and injuring many more, the Stefanos Foundation said.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported an attack on the convoy of the governor of Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno by suspected Boko Haram militants on Tuesday evening. At least three people were killed in the attack.

”We want to see a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of this nation to all Nigerians, good governance devoid of corruption. Christians desire … a commitment to ensure inclusiveness to all Nigerians in practice not in talk,” said Rev. Para-Mallam.

Christians in Africa’s most populous country make up around 46 per cent of the population of 196 million and mostly live in the South, while a similar percentage of Nigerians are Muslims and mostly live in the North.

]]>Another Colombian pastor killed, leaving the church ‘terrified’https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/02/another-colombian-pastor-killed-leaving-the-church-terrified/
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 18:40:08 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37406A Colombian pastor was killed as he left his church last week in the northwest of the country, in a region that has been plagued by violence from armed groups, local sources told World Watch Monitor. Pastor Leider Molina, 24, had just finished preaching in his church in Caucasia, Antioquia […]

]]>Churches like this one in Cordoba and in neighbouring Antioquia are a threat to armed groups because they discourage young people to get involved with criminal activities. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Colombian pastor was killed as he left his church last week in the northwest of the country, in a region that has been plagued by violence from armed groups, local sources told World Watch Monitor.

Pastor Leider Molina, 24, had just finished preaching in his church in Caucasia, Antioquia state in northwest Colombia, on Friday, 9 February. As he stepped outside he was hit by five bullets.

Molina was known as a passionate preacher and an active youth leader working for his church and city, 670km north of the capital Bogotá, the source said.

The Caucasia region has suffered an escalation in violence for the last 4 months, according to the source. Armed groups fight for control of drug trafficking routes and the ownership of illicit crops.

“Communist guerrillas, paramilitary groups, criminal gangs and drug cartels all see the Church as an enemy to be eradicated because, thanks to the preaching and courageous action of leaders and pastors, many young people have renounced armed conflict and illegal activities,” the source said.

Last September two other pastors in the region were killed. Pastor Galarza, a social and religious leader, was shot death in front of his family.

And, as World Watch Monitor reported, Pastor Elfren Martínez Pérez, 55, was murdered outside his home after he refused to help members of a neo-paramilitary group with transport.

The church in the area is terrified, according to the source. “Some Christians have fled with their families, while others have decided to stay awaiting the government intervention. Church leaders, however, continue their work despite the death threats,” said the source.

]]>Malaysia: Exactly 2 years since Raymond Koh’s abduction, his wife asks PM to intervenehttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/02/malaysia-exactly-two-years-since-raymond-kohs-abduction-his-wife-asks-pm-to-intervene/
Wed, 13 Feb 2019 18:08:44 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37402Two years since the disappearance of Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh in broad daylight, his family has asked the country’s Prime Minister to order a new investigation into his kidnapping. “It has already been two years and until now there’s no result [of the inquiry]. We are at our wits’ end. […]

]]>Raymond Koh’s wife Susanna Liew together with church leaders and rights activists called on Malaysia’s Prime Minister to open a new investigation into his disappearance. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Two years since the disappearance of Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh in broad daylight, his family has asked the country’s Prime Minister to order a new investigation into his kidnapping.

“It has already been two years and until now there’s no result [of the inquiry]. We are at our wits’ end. We don’t know what else to do than to appeal to the highest authority to look into this matter and resolve it,” said his wife Susanna Liew, adding that she admired Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad’s commitment to the rule of law.

A representative of the Prime Minister’s office, who received the memorandum from the family and church leaders, said he would do his best to bring their request before the PM.

Pastor Koh was abducted by at least 15 masked men driving black 4×4s. They ambushed his car in a military-precision operation that was caught on CCTV. He was bundled out of his car and carried away; his vehicle was also taken and has not been found. Video footage of the abduction was shared widely and shocked the nation.

An investigation into his abduction, as well as the disappearance of three other people with similar socio-religious profiles, held by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) was concluded in December last year.

Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth Hilmy were last seen in November 2016, while Shia Muslim activist Amri Che Mat was abducted in a similar style as pastor Koh. Christians and Shia Muslims are both minorities in Malaysia, where Sunni Islam is the majority faith.

Koh’s wife told the inquiry panel at the end of 2017 that she and her husband had been repeatedly harassed by Malaysian officials since 2011 – when religious authorities raided a charity event they were holding at a church – and had been stopped for questioning several times by immigration and Special Branch officers when entering or leaving the country. She said she had even considered emigrating to Australia because of the stress.

The inquiry, which took just more than a year, is expected to release its findings on 6 March.

During the public hearings CCTV footage emerged showing the kidnapping of Pastor Koh in broad daylight and with a military precision in under 46 seconds. A witness also stepped forward who was able to mention the model and licence plate of the car used in the kidnapping. But the police said the plate was a fake.

Furthermore, in May a whistleblower approached Che Mat’s wife, Norhayati, and told her about the involvement of the police in her husband’s abduction. However, just a day before the whistleblower was due to give testimony to the inquiry, he retracted his statements, denying ever having made the claim.

In June, Susanna Liew and Che Mat’s wife wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, also asking for an immediate and independent investigation into the disappearance of their husbands.

The Koh family, together with church leaders and rights activists, have now asked Dr. Mahathir to order a new investigation by a completely new team of independent investigators.

Pastor Koh’s daughter, Esther, told a local source she is suffering from mental torture not knowing where or how her father is.

Her sister Elizabeth said she and her father had the same interest in music; she missed his random humming during the day and his strumming of their “baby-sized” guitar at home.

“We are counting the days to be reconciled with him, but we are also prepared for anything,” said their mum Susanna.

]]>‘Situation for India’s religious minorities is at tipping point’ – reporthttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/02/situation-for-indias-religious-minorities-is-at-tipping-point-report/
Tue, 12 Feb 2019 11:16:46 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37384A report by a religious freedom watchdog shows a dramatic increase in the number of attacks on Christians and Muslims in India in the last four years and “the situation … is at a tipping point”. The number of reported incidents in the first three months of 2018 was greater […]

]]>The report shows that since Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, the number of violent acts against India’s religious minorities have increased. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A report by a religious freedom watchdog shows a dramatic increase in the number of attacks on Christians and Muslims in India in the last four years and “the situation … is at a tipping point”.

The number of reported incidents in the first three months of 2018 was greater than the total number of attacks in the whole of the year 2014, according to the report “We’re Indians Too” by Open Doors.

The report’s incident analysis shows that since Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, the number of violent acts against Christians, Muslims and tribal Dalits (members of the India’s lowest caste) have increased.

The report identifies four “drivers” of persecution: “Hindutva ideology, Anti-conversion laws, the misuse of PESA law [The Panchayatiraj Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, 1996] and, for many, the caste system combine to create a toxic environment where violence and discrimination is an everyday reality for many of India’s religious minorities,” the report says, calling on decision makers to “act immediately to avoid catastrophe for India’s beleaguered religious minority communities”.

Also, according to the Open Doors report, although outside the scope of analyzed incidents, “it is deeply concerning that one reporting agency on the ground documented 775 incidents against Christians in 2018, including 14 murders. 775 incidents in 2018 represents the religious persecution of 50,819 unique people; 18,956 of whom were men; 18,858 of whom were women; and 12,790 of whom were children. These figures represent only one reporting agency’s findings. Given that no single organization captures the totality of religious freedom violations, these figures only demonstrate the need for proper documentation and monitoring of an escalating environment of religious-based violence.”

“India… struggles with growing incidents of local intolerance and violence against minorities. Security & justice for all must be guaranteed by state authorities,” Jan Figel, EU Envoy for freedom of religion or belief outside the EU, tweeted on 8 February.

#NEW DELHI: #India w/ the most religious diversity keeps its secular & democratic status, but struggles with growing incidents of local intolerance & violence against minorities. Security & justice for all must be guaranteed by state authorities. pic.twitter.com/oTAlcHhlqN

Before the incident the attackers had threatened to kill the Christians if they continued holding their prayer meetings, a local source told CSW.

“Uttar Pradesh seems to have thrown away both democracy and the Indian constitution in the state sponsored or condoned violence against religious minorities,” John Dayal, a rights activist and writer in India told CSW.

“The state has seen one hundred or more cases of violence against Christians at prayer meetings or in churches and institutions. Portents and remonstrations with the chief minister over the past twelve months have failed to end the impunity. Police are either complicit or unconcerned. We fear a worsening of the situation in the next two months leading to the general elections.”

This year India entered for the first time the top 10 of the Open Doors World Watch List, an index of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to live as a Christian.

]]>Ethiopia: Ethnic Somali Christian police man forced to relocate after talking about his faithhttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/02/ethiopia-ethnic-somali-christian-police-man-forced-to-relocate-after-talking-about-his-faith/
Thu, 07 Feb 2019 18:24:56 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37361An Ethiopian police officer was arrested, dismissed and forced to move to another part of the country after he told colleagues about his Christian faith The 25-year-old man, who grew up in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region as a member of the nearly 100 percent Muslim Somali tribe, became a Christian […]

]]>A Christian police officer in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region was advised to return to Islam but refused, claiming a constitutional right to religious freedom. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Ethiopian police officer was arrested, dismissed and forced to move to another part of the country after he told colleagues about his Christian faith

The 25-year-old man, who grew up in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region as a member of the nearly 100 percent Muslim Somali tribe, became a Christian two years ago.

World Watch Monitor is using the pseudonym Adane to identify the man, whose true name is being withheld for security purposes.

A local source told World Watch Monitor that one of Adane’s colleagues in the Liyou police force, a local paramilitary group, recently filed a complaint against him with the Somali State Human Rights Office. He had been heard talking about his newly found Christian faith while in uniform.

The deputy chairman of the Human Rights Office, and ethnic Somali himself, was greatly surprised to discover that there actually was a Christian within the tribe, the local source said.

The human rights deputy advised Adane to return to Islam. Adane refused, claiming a constitutional right to religious freedom. He was then arrested.

Following intervention by the Human Rights Office-chairman, Adane was released, only to find he had been dismissed from the police force.

The chairman advised Adane to relocate to another area because he had made too many enemies locally, the local source said.

A years-long ethnic conflict between Oromo and Somali people in eastern Ethiopia has displaced almost 3 million Ethiopians.

In violence that erupted in August last year, a number of Christians were killed and churches burned, as World Watch Monitor reported. Two months earlier, 20 Christians were killed in the Bale Goba area of Oromia, west of the Somali region.

Ethiopia is 28th on Open Doors International’s 2019 World Watch List of the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to live as a Christian.

]]>Pakistani top court rejects review, setting Christian woman Asia Bibi freehttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/01/pakistani-top-court-rejects-review-setting-christian-woman-asia-bibi-free/
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 20:01:50 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37334After nine years in prison for blasphemy, the Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi is free to go after the Supreme Court today, 29 January, upheld her acquittal from the death penalty conviction for blasphemy. The panel considering a review of last year’s verdict by the Supreme Court – which had acquitted her based […]

]]>Asia Bibi with Punjab Governor, Salmaan Taseer, who was assassinated in 2011 for supporting her case. (Photo: Office of the Governor of Punjab)

After nine years in prison for blasphemy, the Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi is free to go after the Supreme Court today, 29 January, upheld her acquittal from the death penalty conviction for blasphemy.

The panel considering a review of last year’s verdict by the Supreme Court – which had acquitted her based on lack of compelling evidence – said the petitioner had not been able to highlight mistakes in the original ruling.

Pakistan’s new Chief Justice, Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who led the panel of three judges, said that, had the case not been so sensitive, Bibi’s accusers should have been jailed for life because of perjury, reported Associated Press (AP).

“The image of Islam we are showing to the world gives me much grief and sorrow,” Khosa said, according to AP.

In its original ruling the Supreme Court bench had said the prosecution’s evidence was flimsy and inconsistent, even a “feast of falsehood”.

Asia Bibi followed proceedings on a television screen in a secret location in Islamabad, where she has been in hiding since her acquittal last year. A friend, who wished to remain anonymous, quoted her to AP as saying: “I am really grateful to everybody. Now after nine years it is confirmed that I am free and I will be going to hug my daughters“.

Divided Pakistan

Read more

Aasiya Noreen, commonly known as Asia Bibi, a Christian mother-of-five, received the death penalty in 2010 after she was allegedly found to have made derogatory comments about Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, during an argument with a Muslim woman.

Despite serious legal loopholes in her trial, several lower courts upheld her death penalty before her case reached the Supreme Court. Asia has always denied that she committed blasphemy.

Hard-line religious groups responded to last year’s acquittal with mass protests, blockades and threats that paralysed the country. Bibi’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Malook, went to the Netherlands shortly after the acquittal was announced, but returned to Pakistan for the review hearing.

Her case has divided Pakistan, and it’s not believed safe for her to live in the country. Her family has had to move numerous times during her incarceration in Multan jail, 570 km south of the capital Islamabad.

Several countries have offered her and her family asylum and she is expected to leave Pakistan; her two daughters have already left the country.

Blasphemy laws

In recent years, Pakistan, which is 96 per cent Muslim, has seen a surge in accusations of blasphemy, particularly against members of religious minorities.

On 15 January Pervaiz Masih was told he was free to go as the Kasur Session Court in the Punjab Province could not find enough evidence that he had insulted the Prophet Mohammad during a dispute with a Muslim businessman in September 2015.

In other cases, a mob takes the law into its own hands. In November 2014 a Christian couple – Shama Masih, who was pregnant, and husband Shahzad – were falsely accused of blasphemy and were thrown into a brick kiln by an angry mob of as many as 600 people.

They left behind three young children. Relatives took them into their care and now, ages 10, 8, and 6, they are trying to live ‘normal lives’, reports Pakistan’s daily Dawn.

The nightmares might have faded but they will be “forever haunted by the brutality of the day their parents were lynched”, said the paper.

]]>Wife beaten so badly she can’t walk, he’s deep in debt: Pakistani Christian freed after 3 year ‘blasphemy’ trialhttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/01/wife-beaten-so-badly-she-cant-walk-and-hes-now-deep-in-debt-pakistani-christian-freed-from-3-year-false-trial-for-blasphemy/
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 19:34:25 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37327In what might be a first-ever, a Pakistani lower court in mid-January acquitted a Christian of blasphemy after a three year trial – for lack of evidence against him. However, before his arrest on the false charge, Pervaiz Masih’s wife was brutally tortured by the police as they sought to […]

]]>Pervaiz Masih, freed after 3yr trial for ‘blasphemy’ for lack of evidence, with Aneeqa Maria of The Voice Society

In what might be a first-ever, a Pakistani lower court in mid-January acquitted a Christian of blasphemy after a three year trial – for lack of evidence against him. However, before his arrest on the false charge, Pervaiz Masih’s wife was brutally tortured by the police as they sought to find out where he was, as was his brother-in-law. Her back was broken, leaving her unable to leave her bed. He also believes his wife Zareena’s incapacity led to the drowning of his three-and-a-half year old daughter; she was unable to keep watch over the toddler.

The family has been living away from their home since August 2015 (when Masih’s ‘blasphemy’ was alleged to have happened). Since then Masih cannot go back to their village for fear of his life; he’s now deep in debt at a remote brick kiln, and cannot pay for medical treatment for Zareena.

Masih and his family are completely devastated and left in fear, despair and hopelessness – despite the fact that, on 15 January, he was told he could go free, as the Kasur Session Court in the Punjab Province could not find enough evidence that he had insulted the Prophet Mohammad during a dispute with a Muslim businessman.

The acquittal by a lower court is unusual. Most leave blasphemy decisions to a higher court, as with the case of Asia Bibi which went all the way to the Supreme Court before being thrown out for

“Because of threats from hardliners, lower courts pass their responsibility to the higher court and then it takes years to prove the accused innocent,” the director of the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS-UK), Nasir Saeed said in December following the death sentence for two Christian brothers for alleged blasphemy.

How did Masih get accused of ‘blasphemy’?

On August 15, 2015, Masih, a resident of village Garhaywala in Kasur district, was hired by a businessman, Haji Jamshed – with six other laborers – to fill seven trucks with sand from a nearby dried-up canal. Each was to receive 2,500 Pakistani rupees (roughly $25 in 2015).

“When we were done with loading sand in the seventh truck, the supervisor Muhammad Ejaz Sheikh gave each of us 1,500 rupees (roughly US$15),” Masih told World Watch Monitor from an undisclosed location.

“I argued with Ejaz that this is the earning of our sweat and hard labor, so he should give what was mutually agreed. He told me to remain quiet and said I would be given the full amount, but I said that each of us should get the full agreed amount and my stance really irritated Ejaz.”

At the time, World Watch Monitor contacted senior police officers at the Mandi Usmanwala Police Station in Kasur to ascertain what exactly happened that meant local residents flared up against Masih. Back then, Masih’s brother-in-law Shamoun personally told World Watch Monitor: “Working in the scorching heat, the workers decided to take some rest. One was repeatedly listening to a religious sermon on a cell phone, at which Parvaiz suggested they all get back to work. But after the work was done, they wanted to pay him less than had been mutually agreed.”

So there was some religious discussion before the argument over pay. However, later the whole argument was reported as a ‘religious’ one.

“When we got back to the village, the news was spread that I spoke against Islam – which was untrue. But four of my co-workers assured everyone that no such indecent remark was spoken by me,” Masih recounted recently to WWM.

In most places, Pakistani Christians’ houses are outside the main village (due to pre-Partition residential arrangements for low castes). However, as urbanization creates new roads, formerly un-important locations become expensive; they’re now right next to new roads.

The Christians of Garhaywala have about 20 houses on the roadside which could be used for commercial activities. A local shopkeeper Muhammad Sajid had earlier requested Christians to rent a shop to him, but they had refused.

“For many days, there’d not been an issue in [Masih’s] village. Most of the villagers initially did not buy this accusation [of blasphemy] against him, but the issue was mainly whipped up by a shopkeeper,” Shamoun told WWM back then.

That night all the Christians fled from their roadside houses, as Sajid had planned.

Two weeks later, on August 31, at least 200 irate men, led by Sajid, smashed down Masih’s gate, demanding that he be handed over so they could hang him.

“Two local Muslims, Chaudhry Majeed Kamboh and Sardar Intizar Dogar, however, told them that they could approach or harm the Christians only over their [Kamboh and Dogar’s] dead bodies, after which no one came near them,” said Masih.

“I had, days before, gone to my in-laws for work and I didn’t know what was taking place back in the village. The police arrested my wife and brother-in-law Shamoun and carried out excruciating torture to extract information about my whereabouts. They badly injured Zareena’s backbone. A few hours later, the police raided the brick kiln where I was working.”

“Since then Zareena is bedridden and I have no money to take her to the doctor. I am already under a huge debt, so I don’t know how to get her treated medically,” Masih added.

3 year old daughter drowns as mum can’t run after her

Masih was released on bail in October 2015 (after only 20 days in jail, another potential ‘first’ for Christians charged with blasphemy) and re-started work at the same remote brick kiln where he’d been arrested. “There is a small water [container] – it’s not more than a foot high – at the brick kiln.

“My wife is no more capable of taking care of our children. On that ominous day, she was on the bed and I had gone to work. We did not know when our 3-and-a- half-year-old daughter Anmol went outside close to this water [container]. Only 15 minutes later, a worker went over there to wash his hands and found Anmol dead. It seems unlikely that Anmol could drown in less than a foot of water, but then we don’t have any other evidence to show she was [deliberately] killed.”

Masih’s lawyer Aneeqa Maria, co-ordinator of The Voice Society, told World Watch Monitor that his trial went on for three years with a hearing almost every week. “Now Masih is acquitted but he cannot return to his village as he is still be seen as a ‘blasphemer’.”

The court of Kasur Additional Sessions Judge Ejaz Ahmed Bosal observed that “for the last one year, the complainant has not bothered to appear before the court and has not produced any witness, which shows that [the complainant] has lost his interest to pursue the case … the accused cannot be left at the mercy of the prosecution to face trial for an indefinite period. Hence, it is most appropriate to stop the proceedings of this case and adjourn it sine die”.

Masih’s final word: “They have done wrong to me. But I remain steadfast in Jesus, against all these odds.”

Not first time Kasur Christians suffer on fake ‘blasphemy charges

Kasur is an area where Christians have seen more than enough persecution and discrimination. In November, 2014, a married couple were attacked by a mob of hundreds, who beat them up badly and then threw them into the brick kiln where they worked, so that they were burned alive. Their 10 year old son Suleman witnesses the mob attack and his parents’ murder. Again, this was after an allegation of blasphemy.

Despite the recent freeing of both Asia Bibi, late in 2018, and Pervaiz Masih this month, it’s believed there are still about 17 Christians in prison either convicted of blasphemy or imprisoned while still on trial. This is thought to be almost half of the approximately 40 prisoners currently held for blasphemy, even though Christians make up only 2% of the population of Pakistan.

]]>Philippines: Authorities say church bombing not connected to Mindanao referendumhttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/01/philippines-authorities-say-church-bombing-not-connected-to-mindanao-referendum/
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 20:05:05 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37297In one of the deadliest attacks in the southern Philippines in years, a bomb blast at a church killed at least 20 people and injured 112 on Sunday morning, 27 January. Among the dead are five soldiers who came to the rescue after the first bomb went off inside the […]

Philippine soldiers and investigators are probing the centre of the Catholic cathedral in Jolo where the first bomb went off during mass on Sunday morning, killing at least 20 people.

In one of the deadliest attacks in the southern Philippines in years, a bomb blast at a church killed at least 20 people and injured 112 on Sunday morning, 27 January.

Among the dead are five soldiers who came to the rescue after the first bomb went off inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, an island near Mindanao, and were hit by a second explosion in the church’s parking lot. Six children were wounded in the first blast in the centre of the church which happened during mass with some 100 people attending, reported the Philippines’ daily Rappler.

The twin bombings took place two days after the Muslim-majority Mindanao region, of which Jolo is a part, voted to become self-governing. However, Sulu province, of which Jolo is the capital, rejected it, said AsiaNews.

The passing of Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in the referendum on Friday, 25 January, raised hopes that it would be a step towards ending almost 50 years of conflict in the region between the Philippines’ army and rebel groups.

The largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, had been a strong supporter of the referendum and the creation of a separate Bangsamoro authority, but there are other rebel groups who fear they will lose power under the new regime, reported Al Jazeera.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State has claimed responsibility for both attacks according to SITE, a website that monitors extremist networks. The Philippine government, however, has blamed the Abu Sayyaf group, an organisation that has pledged allegiance to IS, saying it was “in retaliation” for the death of one of the group’s leaders last year, reported the Catholic news site UCAN.

On Monday the Philippine National Security Advisor said investigations were ongoing into two groups and six persons in particular, Rappler reported.

The army and the police are on heightened alert, Rappler said. “Christian schools are being secured as they are most likely targets of [further] attacks,” a Christian worker from Jolo told World Watch Monitor.

‘No connection with referendum’

MILF’s chairman, Hadji Murad Ibrahim, told UCAN he did not see a connection between the referendum and the attack.

The BOL “is for peace and it will protect not only the rights of [Muslims] but also non-Bangsamoro people like Christians”, he said.

In 2017 the city of Marawi on Mindanao island was for five months under siege by a rebel group affiliated to Islamic State. The Maute group killed civilians and took hundreds of mainly Christian citizens, including a Catholic priest, hostage. They set fire to buildings including a cathedral and Protestant-run college, and erected the black flags of IS.

]]>Indonesian Christian ex-governor Ahok releasedhttps://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2019/01/indonesian-christian-ex-governor-ahok-released/
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 01:08:58 +0000https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/?p=37284Jakarta’s former governor, known widely and simply as “Ahok”, walked out of prison today, 24 January, after serving nearly two years for blasphemy. He was granted early release, four months ahead of schedule, for good behavior. Outside prison in West-Java he was greeted by his eldest son and Nicholas and […]

]]>Jakarta’s former governor ‘Ahok’, released from prison on 24 January. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Jakarta’s former governor, known widely and simply as “Ahok”, walked out of prison today, 24 January, after serving nearly two years for blasphemy.

He was granted early release, four months ahead of schedule, for good behavior. Outside prison in West-Java he was greeted by his eldest son and Nicholas and a group of supporters.

In a letter to his supporters last week, the Chinese Christian, whose real name is Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, asked people not to come to prison to welcome him, out of concern “for the common good” and “for the sake of public order”, according to the Catholic news service UCAN.

“Ahok will finally be out of prison and reunited with his family, but he should never have been imprisoned in the first place,” Elaine Pearson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said earlier this week. “Ahok’s unjust conviction is a reminder that minorities in Indonesia are at risk so long as the abusive blasphemy law remains in place.”

Since 1968 more than 150 people have been imprisoned and at least six people were convicted under this law in 2018 alone, said the organisation.